


Don't you know

by swallowthewhale



Series: Lemon Dreams [34]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-09 01:06:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13470471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: Caitlin chooses to save Cisco's life over the lives of innocent people and Cisco has something to say about it.





	Don't you know

**Author's Note:**

> "Have you lost your fucking mind" prompted by an anon on tumblr. Sort of follows "You're loved and you're alive"

“Have you lost your  _ fucking _ mind?” Cisco shouts, slamming his jacket down onto the table. 

The temperature in the room drops so quickly that Cisco actually checks the color of Caitlin’s eyes. They’re amber, but hard as ice, and she stands, perfectly straight, still in her Killer Frost jacket and water dripping down her back from her defrosted hair. 

Cisco grinds his jaw against the almost irresistible urge to cross the room and take her face in his hands and make her promise to never do something so stupid again. But he’s still pissed and he’s pretty sure he’ll end up kissing her if he gets too close, which would just screw things up even more. 

Caitlin peels off her jacket. “I did what I had to,” she says, her voice steely. Cisco can see her hands shaking, even from this far away. “If I’d known you wanted to die, I would have just let Killer Frost kill you two years ago.” Her voice lashes out like a whip and Cisco actually flinches back.

Cisco hisses through his teeth, raking his hands through his hair, walking out his fury in a tight circle. “God, Caitlin, that is not what I meant and you know it.”

“What then?” Caitlin snaps back. “What reason do you have for being mad at me for saving your life?”

“I told you not to!” Cisco yells, voice echoing faintly off the walls. “I told you to get out and save everyone else!”

“I couldn’t leave you!” Caitlin crys, cutting him off. She swallows hard, breathing heavily. “I could never leave you.”

Cisco rubs his hands over his eyes. “Caitlin,” he says, a little more calmly. “My life is not worth twenty. What if they had all died because of that?”

Caitlin jaw works silently, then she sits slowly. “Do you remember when I was kidnapped by Amunet Black last year?”

“Yeah,” Cisco says, suddenly quiet. 

Caitlin eyes him shrewdly. “You said you couldn’t do this without me.” She looks down. “Maybe that’s changed for you, but it hasn’t for me. I can’t do this without you, Cisco, none of it.” She takes a shuddering breath. “You’re all I have. I can’t lose you.”

Cisco’s face softens while she’s not looking, then changes into something unreadable. He sits across from her. “Of course that hasn’t changed. But, Cait,” he says gently, “we can’t possibly know that we’re both going to survive this life. We need to be able to put the lives of others above our own. You have to be able to choose the city over me.”

Caitlin exhales shakily, finally looking back at him. “I don’t know if I can do that, Cisco,” she says. “Don’t ask me to.”

Cisco offers his hand. She laces their fingers together tightly. “I won’t,” he says, something like hope worming its way into his heart. He squashes it ruthlessly. Caitlin relies on him, and loves him, but not that way. They’ve talked about it before. He bows his head. “To be honest, I’m not sure I could make that decision if it was you.”

Caitlin squeezes his hand. “We’ll always find a way to get everyone out alive. We’ve already lost too many.”

Cisco rolls his chair so he’s next to her and she can rest her damp head on his shoulder. 

“I hope you know I love you,” Caitlin eventually says, softly. “I know I don’t say it enough.”

“Of course I know,” Cisco says. “You don’t have to say it for me to know.”


End file.
